A Wonderful Season

Growing up in the Washington, DC area, the holidays were always a time of anticipation – not just of gifts, and gatherings of family and friends, but of weather – in particular, snow. Will it snow? What’s the chance for snow? These were often the questions that filled our minds.

We became experts at tracking the barometric pressure. If it was dropping and it was cold enough, there was a distinct possibly for that glorious white stuff. Oh boy, we could hardly contain ourselves.

And when it did happen, that perfect convergence of dropping pressure, cold weather, and moisture coming in from God knows where, snow would fall. We’d dash outside covered in coats, gloves, hats and scarves ready to do battle, or build snowmen, or reach hair-raising speeds on our Flexible Flyers.

Those were the little moments that formed wonderful, lifelong memories. And these little moments are happening all around us today. Enjoy these moments now and into the New Year. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Best Wishes,

Larry

Picking The Low-Hanging Fruit

The low-hanging fruit. It’s there, always has been.

As we move through our day, we try, from time to time, to pick it from the tree and enjoy it.

Sometimes, in our rush to a new orchard, or to other farming and cultivating tasks, we overlook this fruit. That’s a real shame.

Okay, enough with the farm metaphor.

I’m talking about additional, new business from your current and past customers.

These folks are already familiar with your company’s products and services and have displayed a degree of interest in, and loyalty to, your company. There is typically a high likelihood these people will purchase again (or more frequently), if given the opportunity, or if simply reminded to purchase.

Past customers are also familiar with your company, but may not have purchased in quite some time. They may not be aware of your new product and/or service offerings, or even of your continued existence (that would be sad). By re-connecting, you are also re-introducing your company to them, increasing the likelihood they will purchase from you - once again.

The key is to have a process that quickly takes you through the steps of opportunity identification, development of the message, and implementation - with the final result being new sales.

And that is just what we’ve done. We’ve developed a dynamic system targeting a company’s low-hanging fruit to capture immediate, additional revenue.

We call it The Rapid Sales System

The Rapid Sales System…

• Identifies sales opportunities (and prioritizes the most promising)
• Produces compelling sales messages (to motivate customers to buy)
• Incorporates effective marketing tactics (to reach more customers and capture more sales)
• Moves quickly (implemented without delay)
• Creates high impact (it’s aggressive, it’s immediate, and it works)

The Rapid Sales System is all about going after sales NOW. It’s about taking ACTION.

If you would like more information, click on the button below.


And good luck to you on the farm.

Big Brother Is Finally Here – and We Are Him

In George Orwell’s terrifying book, 1984, he presents a bleak future controlled by the ever watchful eye of Big Brother, the personification of a brutal, totalitarian regime. In Orwell’s world, one cannot escape the pervasive government surveillance. No act goes without notice.

In our world today, one cannot escape the presence of the cell phone camera or handheld video device. No matter where you go, someone, perhaps many are equipped with devices at the ready to capture your next utterance, faux pas or indiscretion.

Big Brother is finally here. And we are him.

We have entered the age of mass surveillance, perpetrated by our desire to capture the world around us in digital images and the instantaneous mass sharing of this media. We may not set out to focus our lens on the activities of others, but we are often attracted to the unfortunate blunders of our fellow man.

This mass surveillance does not require orchestration by a central, controlling force. The Internet, with websites such as YouTube and Facebook, serves as a prime vessel to capture, categorize, warehouse and share the many millions of images we, the general public, decide to record, upload and download.

The Big Brother image of the 21st century looks more like a photo mosaic comprising thousands, if not millions, of little images, captured by us, then compiled and arranged in a visual sequence that presents to the observer a somewhat confusing, conflicting and disturbing picture of our current civilization. A culture made up, as it turns out, of many, little Big Brothers.

Creating a Message That Sells - Handout

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Creating a Message That Sells - Handout

View more documents from Lawrence Kirsch.

On Saturday, April 10th I was on the San Diego 6 morning news show with Elex Michaelson discussing financing options for small businesses. My objective was to identify some real options currently available for those companies seeking money. For those of you who may have missed this segment, I wanted to list a few of the resources available for lending assistance:

CDC Small Business Finance
This non-profit is one of the most popular organizations for SBA backed loans. Their financing programs include opportunities for women, minority and veteran-owned organizations.
http://www.cdcloans.com/index.shtml

Accion USA
This organization provides micro loans for US based companies and entrepreneurs throughout the world. Most loans are from $300 up to $35,000, and are based on the person’s character.
www.accionsandiego.org

Credit Unions
These non-profit companies often provide loans at lower interest rates then standard bank loans.

Commercial Finance Companies
For those organizations with assets (typically manufacturing companies), a commercial finance company may be a good fit, due to their ability to provide loans of greater risk.

For a free list of potential funding sources, visit this website: http://www.businessfinance.com/

What is Your Personal Social Media Objective?

I was on television yesterday with KSUI – a local San Diego channel – discussing some of the pros and cons regarding participation in Social Media.

An article was recently published in national and local media on how divorce attorneys are turning to Facebook and other social media sites to uncover incriminating evidence against their clients’ soon to be ex-spouses. Yes, it is a sad commentary of how far we’ve gone with social media – and so quickly. But it is certainly understandable.

As I mentioned in my segment with Sandra Maas (an anchor with KSUI), people perceive a false sense of intimacy when they are communicating via their computers. They are sitting at their desk, or dining room table, often alone, with their computer; not necessary thinking that many thousands of individuals could rather easily access their written musings or enjoy their recent photos from some ill-conceived activity.

I believe people, just as companies, need to consider what their objectives are with social media. What do you wish to accomplish with your participation? Is it finding new friends, folks with similar interests or beliefs? Finding love? Promote your business or interests? Or is it to expose yourself to new things about the world around you? And how much are you willing to reveal about yourself? When these questions are asked, you allow yourself time to reflect on personal feelings regarding privacy and how you wish to be perceived by your family, friends and peers.

Take the time to reflect and figure out your objective with Social Media. It is worth it.

To view the KUSI segment, please use this link.

Differentiation – It’s More Than Just Being Different!

It’s really a fairly easy concept: figure out a way to make your company different from the rest.

The problem is most companies either don’t bother, or end up differentiating themselves along lines about which the target audience could care less.

There are a number of companies that first focus on what they do well. That’s okay as long as their customers really want that. But what if the customers aren’t all that interested in what a company does well?

Then, it’s time to find out what your chosen customers really want and care about. You need to uncover those differentiating points that resonate with the audience, and drive them to your business. And let me fill you in on some key information – rarely is the main resonating point about price. Sure, most folks will mention they want a low price, but when push comes to shove, you will find other, more important issues behind their motivation to purchase.

And once you figure out what excites them, then work on being the first and best at delivering it, and doing it consistently well. This is a whole lot easier than it sounds. But, if your research is correct, and you’ve nailed a key differentiating element that truly resonates with the audience, then it is well worth the effort - and you will capture incremental sales.

Be A Fundamentalist

It's time to get back to the fundamentals folks. The Marketing Fundamentals, that is.

I know, it's hard not to pay attention to the new and shiny stuff that comes along. I do it as well.

Take Social Media. Wow, is that ever shiny and cool. It’s loads of fun and everyone (seemingly) is talking about it (hey, I am too).

But here is the rub – you need to know and apply the Fundamentals of Marketing for this Social Media stuff to work.

Know your target market, and understand their wants and needs. Understand your competition, and how they talk about their products and services. Know how to differentiate yourself from everyone in your space – but do it in such a way that resonates with that target audience of yours.

These fundamentals apply to all the marketing and communication tools, including Direct Mail, Email Marketing, Telemarketing, Advertising, Pay-Per-Click, Public Relations, and so on.  And they apply to Social Media as well.  You can’t get around it.

So, it’s okay to keep an eye out for the shiny, new stuff, but don’t take your eye off of the Marketing Fundamentals.